Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. -Mark Twain

Friday, February 19, 2010

A Stroll Through Penasco

-by El Gitano Peñasco, "The Peñasco Gypsy"

Ya got your College Spring Break crowd, the weekend warrior types, motorcycle clubs, the young and old party animals and so forth but what we don’t (and won’t) attract to PP is N. America’s most affluent and sought after crowd, ‘Seniors’ (nearing or soon to be retired) who could come to town in masses ‘all year long’ and vacation, spend their money or better yet, retire here.

Now for you folks in Gila Bend, AZ (just kidding, I love the community and those “5 old crabs”, too) that means most of our civic and business leaders are more interested in tourist dollars from ‘groups’ who’d rather double/triple/quadruple down in a cheap motel room, feed off $1 tacos and slam down ‘cold-ones’ with rotgut tequila-backs all day/night until they heave, as opposed to enticing people here who’d spend hundreds of dollars each day on finer accommodations, exceptional dining experiences, high-end shopping excursions, entertainment or ‘investing’.

During the halcyon years prior to the real estate bubble bursting, the over-all ‘marketing’ approach for Puerto Peñasco was and still is controlled by those few bar, restaurant and motel owners, etc. who profit handsomely from the status-quo and the likelihood of them changing their ‘target-market’ any time soon to attract a year round upscale crowd is as remote as me giving up Salsas…

Maybe it is just that I am getting too damn old but even back in my 30’s while vacationing abroad my wife and I always enjoyed browsing through fine art galleries and shopping for clothing, gifts and jewelry at various stores. Followed maybe by a little golf, then later a romantic stroll, a candlelight dinner and maybe a nice cognac nightcap (or two) at a nightclub or back at our suite….

Oh well, at least here in Peñasco we do have the ever so romantic Manny’s Beach Club and there is always the ‘Black Dog’ and a stroll down Calle 13…